Descriptive metadata extraction and linkage with editorial content

ABSTRACT

Embodiments provide techniques for distributing supplemental content based on content entities within video content. Embodiments include receiving video data containing an embedded watermark at a first position within the video data. The embedded watermark is detected at the first position within the video data. Embodiments also include transmitting, to a remote content server, a message specifying a time stamp corresponding to the first position within the video data. In response to transmitting the message, supplemental content corresponding to a content entity depicted within the video content at the first position within the video content is received from the remote content server. Embodiments also include outputting the video data for display together with at least an indication of the supplemental content.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to providing media content, and morespecifically, to techniques for embedding data within video content foruse in retrieving supplemental content corresponding to a content entitydepicted within the video content.

Description of the Related Art

A number of different techniques exist today for delivering videocontent to users. Generally speaking, existing systems for deliveringvideo content, such as over-the-air broadcasts, cable televisionservice, Internet television service, telephone network televisionservice, satellite television service, satellite radio service,websites, etc., provide a relatively impersonalized, generic experienceto all viewers. For example, with respect to broadcast television, allviewers of a given television network station receive essentially thesame content in essentially the same order.

In addition to providing the video content to users, content providerscan also provide supplemental content that corresponds to contententities shown in the video content. For instance, a particular scene ofthe video content could show a particular actor playing a particularfictional character, and supplemental content about the particularfictional character could be provided along with the video content. Forexample, such supplemental content could include concept art and abiography for the fictional character. Moreover, such supplementalcontent can be shown for other content entities within the videocontent, such as places, objects, and so on.

Currently, the identification of such content entities within contentvideo and the linking of such content entities to supplemental contentare largely manual processes. For example, a user could manually watchthe video content and generate data specifying content entitiesappearing within the video content and a time range(s) at which thecontent entities appear. The user could further select supplementalinformation pertaining to the content entity within the video contentand could make this supplemental information available when the videocontent is later viewed (e.g., by inserting a link within the videocontent to a web page containing the supplemental information). However,such a manual process is inefficient, and moreover such a process isstatic in nature, as subsequent updates to the selected supplementalinformation and the links to such information remain manual operations.

SUMMARY

Embodiments provide a method, non-transitory medium and system forproviding supplemental content for an instance of video data to a clientdevice. The method, non-transitory medium and system include receivingvideo data containing an embedded watermark at a first position withinthe video data. The method, non-transitory medium and system alsoinclude detecting the embedded watermark at the first position withinthe video data. Additionally, the method, non-transitory medium andsystem include transmitting, to a remote content server, a messagespecifying a time stamp corresponding to the first position within thevideo data. The method, non-transitory medium and system furtherinclude, in response to transmitting the message, receiving, from theremote content server, supplemental content corresponding to a contententity depicted within the video content at the first position withinthe video content. The method, non-transitory medium and system includeoutputting the video data for display together with at least anindication of the supplemental content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited aspects are attained andcan be understood in detail, a more particular description ofembodiments of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had byreference to the appended drawings.

It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate onlytypical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to beconsidered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to otherequally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a content processing systemconfigured with a video processing component and a content selectioncomponent, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a processing workflow fordetecting content entities within a video stream and embeddingwatermarks at positions corresponding to the content entities, accordingto one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for identifying a contententity within a video stream and determining supplemental contentrelated to the content entity, according to one embodiment describedherein.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for embedding a watermarkat a position within an audio stream corresponding to frames in which acontent entity was detected, according to one embodiment describedherein.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providingsupplemental content for a video stream containing an embeddedwatermark, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for playing video contentcontaining an embedded watermark together with supplemental content at aclient device, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a system for providingsupplemental content for video content, according to one embodimentdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments generally provide a comprehensive solution for automaticallyidentifying content entities (e.g., actors, characters, objects, places,etc.) within video content and embedding watermarks within the videocontent that can be used to retrieve supplemental content (e.g.,biographies, images, videos, etc.) for display during playback of thevideo content. As used herein, a content entity refers to any entitydepicted within one or more frames of a video. For example, a contententity can be an actor appearing within a series of frames of a video.Another example of a content entity can be a fictional (ornon-fictional) character that the actor is portraying within a series offrames of a video. Still another example of a content entity can be anobject within a series of frames of a video that corresponds to aparticular character (e.g., a doll depicting a cartoon character). Asyet another example, a content entity can be a location shown withinframes of a video (e.g., Paris). Of course, such examples are withoutlimitation and are provided for illustrative purposes only, and moregenerally a content entity can be any entity depicted within at leastone frame of video content.

Supplemental content, as used herein, refers to any content that isrelated to a content entity. Examples of such supplemental contentinclude, without limitation, images, videos, audio files, textualcontent and so on. For instance, the supplemental content for aparticular actor (i.e., a content entity) could include biographyinformation for the actor, news articles about or related to the actor,video clips involving or related to the particular actor, audio filesassociated with the actor (e.g., an interview with the actor, a podcastthat mentions the actor, etc.) and so on. More generally, supplementalcontent refers to any content have a relation to a content entity.

One embodiment provide techniques for embedding a watermark within anaudio stream of video content for use in retrieving supplemental contentcorresponding to a content entity depicted within the video content.Such an embodiment includes analyzing video data to identify a knowncontent entity within two or more frames of the video data. For example,embodiments could determine that a particular actor appears within aparticular series of frames within the video data. Additionally,embodiments could determine, for each of the two or more frames, aregion of pixels within the respective frame that correspond to theknown content entity. Continuing the example, embodiments could identifya region of pixels within each frame of the series of frames that depictthe particular actor within the frames.

Once the known content entity is identified within the frames of thevideo, embodiments could determine supplemental content corresponding tothe known entity. For example, where the known content entity comprisesa particular actor, embodiments could identify biographical information,images, sound clips, and so on corresponding to the particular actor.More generally, however, any form of supplemental content correspondingto the known content entity can be determined, and these examples areprovided for illustrative purposes only and without limitation.

Embodiments could also embed a watermark at a first position within thevideo data, such that the watermark corresponds to an identifierassociated with the determined supplemental content. In one embodiment,the watermark comprises an audio watermark inserted into an audio streamof the video data at the first position. For example, where the knowncontent entity was identified within a series of frames of the videodata, the watermark could be embedded at a position within the videodata that corresponds to a first frame of the series of framescontaining the known content entity.

Additionally, an identifier could be associated with the determinedsupplemental content. For instance, the identifier could be a timestampcorresponding to the first frame at which the watermark was inserted.The watermarked video content could later be transmitted by a serversystem to a client device for playback. Upon laying the watermarkedvideo content and detecting the embedded watermark, the client devicecould transmit a message to the server system specifying the identifierassociated with the watermark. Upon receiving the message, embodimentscould transmit the supplement content to the client device for outputtogether with the video data.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a content processing systemconfigured with a video processing component and a content selectioncomponent, according to one embodiment described herein. As shown, thesystem 100 includes a content processing system 110 connected to aplurality of client devices 140 by network 130. The content processingsystem 110 includes a video processing component 115, a contentrepository 120 and a content selection component 125. Of note, while thecontent processing system 110 is shown as a single entity in the system100, the content processing system 110 in one embodiment comprisesmultiple separate computing devices. These separate computing devicescan be located, for instance, within a single computing network, or canbe located on different computing networks and even in differentgeographic location.

Generally, the video processing component 115 is configured to analyzevideo data to identify a known content entity within two or more framesof the video data and to determine, for each of the two or more frames,a region of pixels within the respective frame that correspond to theknown content entity. As discussed above, the known content entity cangenerally be any content entity the video processing component 115 isconfigured to recognize. Examples of such content entities can include,without limitation, a person (e.g., an actor), a character (e.g., afictional or non-fictional character portrayed by the actor), an object(e.g., a toy representing a particular cartoon character), a geographiclocation (e.g., the city of Paris), textual information (e.g., a signfor a particular business) and so on.

The video processing component 115 could then embed a watermark at afirst position within the video data, such that the watermarkcorresponds to an identifier associated with the determined supplementalcontent. For instance, the video processing component 115 could embedthe watermark in an audio stream of the video data at the firstposition. In a particular embodiment, the video processing component 115is configured to embed the watermark in a video stream of the videodata.

The content processing system 110 could then, at some subsequent pointin time, transmit the watermarked video data to one of the clientdevices 140 for playback by the video player component 145. The videoplayer component 145 could then begin the playback of the watermarkedvideo data and could detect the watermark within the video data at thefirst position. The video player component 145 could then transmit anidentifier corresponding to the detected watermark to the contentselection component 125. For example, the identifier could comprise atimestamp for the first position within the video data at which thewatermark was detected.

Upon receiving a message specifying the identifier, the contentselection component 125 could determine supplemental contentcorresponding to the known content entity within the content repository120. For instance, the content repository 120 could comprise a databasestoring supplemental content, e.g., images, videos, audio, and otherdata files, and the content selection component 125 could be configuredto query the database to retrieve supplemental content associated withthe known content entity corresponding to the received identifier. As anexample, where the known content entity is a particular fictionalcharacter, the supplemental content could include video clips from othermovies the fictional character has been depicted in, textual informationdescribing the fictional character, images of the fictional character,commercial products relating to the fictional character, and so on.

In one embodiment, the content selection component 125 can tailor theselection of supplemental content based on the client containing thevideo player component 145. For example, the client could transmit aclient identifier in addition to the identifier corresponding to thedetected watermark, and upon receiving the client identifier, thecontent selection component 125 could use the client identifier orinformation associated with the client identifier (e.g., a device typecorresponding to the client identifier) to search for and retrieve thesupplemental content. In one embodiment, the content selection component125 is configured to take into account preference information (e.g.,information describing user preferences for a user associated with theclient device) in selecting the supplemental content. For instance, thecontent selection component 125 could be more likely to select instancesof content or types of content that the user has shown a particularaffinity for, and less likely to select content or types of content thatthe user has historically disliked or otherwise been uninterested in. Ina particular embodiment, the content selection component 125 isconfigured to use the client identifier to determine content that a usercorresponding to the client identifier has access to, and to select thesupplemental content as a subset of the accessible client. For instance,if the user has a license to view a particular set of content items butdoes not have rights to view another set of content items, the contentselection component 125 could select the supplemental content items toreturn to the user only from the particular set of content items theuser has rights to view.

Once the supplemental content is determined, the content selectioncomponent 125 could transmit the supplement content to the client device140 for output by the video player component 145 together with the videodata. For instance, the video player component 145 could provide anoverlay over the playback of the video data that includes one or morelinks to instances of the supplemental content. As another example, thevideo player component 145 could output an interface that includes thesupplemental content (or a link to the supplemental content) along withthe playback of the video data. Doing so allows for supplemental contentto be dynamically retrieved and displayed, based on the watermarkembedded within the video data.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a processing workflow fordetecting content entities within a video stream and embeddingwatermarks at positions corresponding to the content entities, accordingto one embodiment described herein. As shown, the system 200 includes aninput stage 210, an identification stage 220, an enhancement stage 230,an editorial content linkage stage 240, a watermarking manager stage 250and an output stage 260.

Generally, the input stage 210 represents the selection of media contentfor processing by the video processing component 115. For example, auser could specify an indication of media content using a uniqueidentifier corresponding to the media content, e.g., a path and filenamecorresponding to a particular file, a unique resource identifier (URI)for a web resource, etc. In one embodiment, the video processingcomponent 115 is configured to automatically select the media content tobe processed. For example, the video processing component 115 could beconfigured to automatically select a next instance of media content froma particular location, e.g., a folder in a filesystem.

During the identification stage 220, the video processing component 115analyzes the instance of media content identified during the input stage210, in order to identify a known content entity within frames of themedia content. For example, the video processing component 115 couldanalyze the frames of an instance of video content in order to identifya particular actor within a sequence of frames. Additionally, the videoprocessing component 115 could identify a region of pixels within eachof the frames in the sequence of frames that corresponds to theidentified known content entity (e.g., the particular actor).

In such determinations, the video processing component 115 could performan automatic identification of the known content entity. For instance,the video processing component 115 could search the frames of the videocontent to determine whether any regions of pixels match one of aplurality of predefined images of the known content entity (e.g., imagesof an actor's face). Once the video processing component 115 identifiesa depiction of a known content entity within one of the frames, thevideo processing component 115 could analyze the frames surrounding theframe to determine whether these surrounding frames also containdepictions of the known content entity. That is, if a particular actoris seen throughout a scene of the video data, the video processingcomponent 115 could identify all the frames of the scene that include adepiction of the particular actor.

In one embodiment, the video processing component 115 is configured toperform a semi-automatic identification of the known content entitywithin the frames of the video. For instance, the video processingcomponent 115 could provide a user interface that a user could use tospecify an area of a frame. For example, the user could use a drawingtool to outline a region of a frame that corresponds to a known contententity depicted within the frame. The video processing component 115could then analyze the specified region to determine which known contententity is depicted within the region of the frame. By having the userspecify a specific region of a frame that corresponds to a known contententity, the video processing component 115 can focus its analysis on thespecified region, thereby improving the accuracy of the identificationof the known content entity.

Once the video processing component 115 has identified a sequence offrames, the video processing component 115 then performs enhancementand/or refinement operations in the enhancement stage 230. For instance,the video processing component 115 can perform a temporal consistencyenhancement across the frames of the video. For example, a depiction ofa particular actor could be identified within frames 1 through 10 and 12through 20 of the video data, and the video processing component 115could determine that it is likely the particular actor also appears inframe 11 of the video data, even though the initial analysis of frame 11did not detect a depiction of the particular actor within the frame. Byoptimizing the identified frames with respect to time, embodiments canprovide a more consistent result across the frames of the video content.

Additionally, the video processing component 115 can perform anobject/character segmentation refinement operation as well. Here, thevideo processing component 115 can analyze the region of pixels in eachframe of the identified sequence of frames and can optimize theidentified regions of pixels with respect to both space and time,thereby providing a more consistent result. For example, the videoprocessing component 115 could identify a relatively large region ofpixels within several frames of the video data that correspond to aparticular known content entity, but could identify only a smallerregion of pixels corresponding to the known content entity within anadjacent frame of the video data. In the enhancement stage, the videoprocessing component 115 could adjust the regions of pixels across theidentified frames to normalize the identified regions of pixels, therebyimproving the consistency of the identification across the video data.

In the editorial linkage stage 240, the content selection component 125identifies supplemental content associated with the known content entitydetected within the frames of the video data. For example, thesupplemental content could include images, audio, video, and other datarelated to the known content entity. The content selection component 125can then create a link between the identified supplemental content andthe identified sequence of frames within the video data. For example,the content selection component 125 could create the linkage to thesupplemental content using a timestamp associated with the first frameof the sequence, such that the timestamp can subsequently be used toquickly retrieve the supplemental content.

The video processing component 115, during the watermarking managerstage 250, embeds a watermark into the video data at a positioncorresponding to the identified sequence of frames containing thedepiction of the known content entity. For example, the video processingcomponent 115 could embed a watermark within an audio stream of thevideo content at a position corresponding to the first frame of thesequence of frames. The timestamp at which the watermark is embeddedcould then subsequently be used to, e.g., accessed the linkedsupplemental content identified during the editorial linkage stage 240.While an audio watermark is described in this example, more generally,any watermark embedded within the video content capable of being used toidentify the linked supplemental content can be used, consistent withthe functionality described herein.

At the output stage 260, the video processing component 115 outputs thevideo content containing the embedded watermark. Additionally, the videoprocessing component 115 can be configured to output metadata describingthe analysis of the video content. For instance, such metadata canspecify any known content identified within the video data, and canfurther specify sequences of frames in which the known content entity(or entities) appear. Such metadata can be used to provide a summary ofthe content entities within the video content as well as the sceneswithin the video content. In one embodiment, the metadata is storeddirectly within the video content. In an alternate embodiment, thecontent selection component 125 is configured to store the metadatatogether with a token that can be used to retrieve the video content.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for identifying a contententity within a video stream and determining supplemental contentrelated to the content entity, according to one embodiment describedherein. As shown, the method 300 begins at block 310, where the videoprocessing component 115 receives video content to be analyzed. Thevideo processing component 115 then analyzes the received video contentto identify a known content entity within frames of the video content(block 315).

Upon identifying a known content entity within a series of frames, thevideo processing component 115 determines a region of pixels within eachof the identified frames that corresponds to the known content entity(block 320). As discussed above, the video processing component 115 canbe configured to automatically determine the region of pixels withineach of the frames (e.g., by searching for regions of the frames thatsubstantially match predefined images of the known content entity). Inone embodiment, the video processing component 115 performs asemi-automatic determination of the region of pixels. For instance, usercould outline (e.g., using an input device and a graphical userinterface of the video processing component 115) a region of pixelswithin one of the frames as corresponding to a particular contententity, and the video processing component 115 could use the specifiedregion of pixels to identify similar regions of pixels within thesurrounding frames of the video content.

The video processing component 115 then performs a temporal consistencyenhancement to optimize the identified frames and determined regions ofpixels across the entirety of the video content (block 325). Forinstance, the video processing component 115 could perform a temporalconsistency refinement operation across the frames of the video data tocapture frames in which the known content entity was not explicitlyidentified in but is likely to appear within. For example, if the videoprocessing component 115 determines that the known content entity wasidentified within all but one of a particular sequence of frames, thevideo processing component 115 could determine that the known contententity is likely depicted within the remaining frame as well.

The video processing component 115 could also be configured to performrefinement operations for the identified regions of pixels. For example,while a depiction of a known content entity could reside within a regionof pixels in a particular frame, the video processing component 115could have identified only a portion of the region of pixels due toimperfections in the identification analysis. However, if the videoprocessing component 115 determines that the determined region of pixelswithin the particular frame differs significantly in size and/or shaperelative to the determined region of pixels in the adjacent frames, thevideo processing component 115 could adjust the determined regions ofpixels to be more consistent across the frames of the video data.Advantageously, doing so can help offset imperfections in the automatic(or semi-automatic) identification of the depictions of the knowncontent entity across the frames of the video data.

Additionally, the content selection component 125 determinessupplemental content related to the known content entity (block 330).For example, the content selection component 125 could generate andsubmit a query to a database management system, where the queryidentifies the known content entity and is adapted to retrieve contentfrom a database corresponding to the known content entity. The contentselection component 125 further provides at least an indication of thedetermined supplemental content during the playback of the video contenton a client device (block 335), and the method 300 ends.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for embedding a watermarkat a position within an audio stream corresponding to frames in which acontent entity was detected, according to one embodiment describedherein. As shown, the method 400 begins at block 410, where the videoprocessing component 115 receives data specifying regions of pixelswithin frames of video content that correspond to a known contententity. For example, the video processing component 115 could provide auser interface in which a user can specify a region of one or moreframes of the video content (e.g., using a stylus or other input/outputdevice). In a particular embodiment, the video processing component 115is configured to analyze the video content in order to determine theregion of pixels. For example, the video processing component 115 couldbe configured to analyze frames of the video content in order toidentify regions of pixels corresponding to people within the frames.

The video processing component 115 then determines content related tothe known content entity (block 415). For example, the video processingcomponent 115 could query a content selection component 125 to retrieverelated content from a data store, e.g., a database. As discussed above,such content can include any content related to the known contententity, with examples including (without limitation) images, videos,audio, information (e.g., biographical information), and so on.

The video processing component 115 then associates an identifier withthe determined content (block 420). In one embodiment, the videoprocessing component 115 is configured to associate the identifier withthe known content entity and the position in the video content at whichthe pixels corresponding to the known content entity appear. Forexample, the video processing component 115 could create a link betweena watermark identifier (e.g., a time stamp corresponding to the firstframe of a sequence of frames within the video data) and the determinedcontent, such that the watermark identifier can be used to quicklyaccess the determined content. In one embodiment, the video processingcomponent 115 creates the link between a time stamp and an identifier ofthe known content entity, such that the identifier can subsequently beretrieved and used to search (e.g., within a database) for supplementalcontent associated with the known content entity.

The video processing component 115 then modifies an audio stream of thevideo content to insert a watermark specifying the identifier (block425), and the method 400 ends. For example, the video processingcomponent 115 could insert the watermark at a position within the audiostream corresponding to the frames in which the known content entity wasdetected. A client device, upon detecting the watermark within the audiostream, could then transmit a watermark identifier (e.g., a timestamp atwhich the watermark was detected) to the video processing component 115.The video processing component 115 could then use this watermarkidentifier together with information identifying the video contentplaying on the client device to determine the determined supplementalcontent related to the identifier. The video processing component 115could then provide the supplemental content to the client device fordisplay.

In one embodiment, the video processing component 115 is configured todetermine the content related to the known entity upon receiving thetimestamp from the client device. For instance, the video processingcomponent 115 could associate the identifier with the known contententity and, upon receiving a timestamp corresponding to the identifierfrom a client device, the video processing component 115 could determinethe supplemental content related to the known content entity (e.g., byquerying a content selection component 125 for content related to theknown content entity). The video processing component 115 could thenprovide at least a portion of the supplemental content to the clientdevice for display together with the video content.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providingsupplemental content for a video stream containing an embeddedwatermark, according to one embodiment described herein. As shown, themethod 500 begins at block 510, where a video processing component 115on a content processing system transmits video content with an embeddedwatermark to a client device. Upon receiving the video content, theclient device outputs the video content for display using a video playercomponent 145 (block 515). The video player component 145 thendetermines an identifier corresponding to the embedded watermark withinthe video content (block 520). For example, the identifier could be atimestamp value corresponding to the position within the video contentat which the watermark is embedded. The video player component 145transmits a message specifying the identifier to the video processingcomponent 115 on the content processing system (block 525).

In one embodiment, a first video player component 145 (e.g., within atelevision set display device) can be configured to receive the videocontent containing the embedded watermark and to output the videocontent for playback. In such an embodiment, a second video playercomponent 145 running on a separate device (e.g., a personal computingdevice, a tablet computing device, a mobile device, etc.) can detect theembedded audio watermark within the video content being played backusing one or more sensors of the separate device (e.g., a microphone).The second video player component 145 could then transmit the messagespecifying the identifier to the video processing component 115 on thecontent processing system, responsive to detecting the audio watermark.Advantageously, doing so allows the logic for detecting the watermarkand transmitting the identifier to be deployed on a separate device fromthe one used to playback the video content, and thus allows any genericdisplay device (e.g., a television device receiving a broadcasttelevision signal) to be used to output the video content.

Upon receiving the message specifying the identifier (e.g., a timestampcorresponding to the watermark embedded within the video content), thevideo processing component 115 retrieves content corresponding to thereceived identifier (block 530). For example, the message could specifya watermark identifier (e.g., a timestamp at which the watermark wasdetected) and could further specify a unique identifier that identifiesthe video content playing on the client device. As discussed above, themessage could further specify a client identifier which the contentselection component 125 could use to refine the selection ofsupplemental content. The video processing component 115 could then usethe watermark identifier and the unique identifier for the video contentto determine the known content entity. For instance, the videoprocessing component 115 could be configured to create a mapping of theidentifier and unique identifier to the known content entity, at thetime the video processing component 115 inserted the watermark into thevideo content. The video processing component 115 could then referencethis mapping upon receiving the message from the client device.

Once the video processing component 115 determines the known contententity corresponding to the embedded watermark, the video processingcomponent 115 retrieves supplemental content associated with the knowncontent entity. For instance, the video processing component 115 couldquery a content selection component 125 specifying an identifier for theknown content entity and the content selection component 125 couldreturn content (e.g., from a database) corresponding to the knowncontent entity. Additionally, in embodiments where the transmittedmessage specifies a client identifier for the client device, the contentselection component 125 could refine the selection of supplementalcontent using the client identifier (e.g., by selecting only content theclient identifier has access to view).

Upon retrieving the supplemental content, the video processing component115 transmits at least a portion of the content to the client device(block 535). The video player component 145 on the client devicereceives the supplemental content and outputs an indication of thereceived content during the playback of the video content (block 540),and the method 500 ends. For example, the supplemental content couldinclude biography information for a particular actor and an audio clipfor an interview with the particular actor. Upon receiving thisinformation, the video player component 145 could update a userinterface displayed on the client device to display an indication of theretrieved content. For example, the video player component 145 couldupdate the interface to include links to the received supplementalcontent that, if selected, cause the retrieved content to be output onthe client device.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for playing video contentcontaining an embedded watermark together with supplemental content at aclient device, according to one embodiment described herein. As shown,the method 600 begins at block 610, where the video player component 145on a client device receives video content containing an embedded audiowatermark. For example, the watermark could have been inserted into theaudio stream of the video content using the method 400 discussed above.The method 600 continues as the video player component 145 beginsplayback of the video content (block 615). The video player component145 detects the embedded watermark within an audio stream of the videocontent (block 620) and, in response, transmits a message specifying atimestamp corresponding to the position of the embedded watermark to aremote content server (block 625).

In such an embodiment, the remote server may have previously created amapping between the video content and the timestamp of the watermark toa particular content entity (e.g., when the watermark was first embeddedwithin the video content at the position corresponding to thetimestamp), and the remote server could then use this information todetermine the particular content entity corresponding to the timestamp.The remote server could then retrieve supplemental content correspondingto the particular content entity and could return this supplementalcontent to the client device. The video player component 145 on theclient device receives the supplemental content from the remote contentserver (block 30) and outputs at least an indication of the supplementalcontent for display together with the playback of the video content(block 635), and the method 600 ends. For example, the video playercomponent 145 could provide one or more links in an overlay to the videocontent that, when selected, cause the video player component 145 tooutput the corresponding instance of supplemental content on the clientdevice.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a system for providingsupplemental content for video content, according to one embodimentdescribed herein. As shown, the system 700 includes a content processingsystem 710, a content selection system 730 and a client device 750,interconnected via a network 725. Generally, the network 725 representsany data communication network capable of connecting the systems 710,730 and 750. For example, the network 725 could be a TCP/IP network,e.g., the Internet.

The content processing system 710 includes a processor 712, storage 714,memory 718, and a network adapter 722. Generally, the processor 710retrieves and executes programming instructions stored in the memory718. Processor 710 is included to be representative of a single CPU,multiple CPUs, a single CPU having multiple processing cores, GPUshaving multiple execution paths, and the like. The memory 718 isgenerally included to be representative of a random access memory.Further, while the depicted embodiment illustrates the components of aparticular content processing system 710, one of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that interactive objects may use a variety ofdifferent hardware architectures. Moreover, it is explicitlycontemplated that embodiments may be implemented using any device orcomputer system capable of performing the functions described herein.

The memory 718 represents any memory sufficiently large to hold thenecessary programs and data structures. Memory 718 could be one or acombination of memory devices, including Random Access Memory,nonvolatile or backup memory (e.g., programmable or Flash memories,read-only memories, etc.). In addition, memory 718 and storage 714 maybe considered to include memory physically located elsewhere; forexample, on another computer communicatively coupled to the system 710.Illustratively, the memory 718 includes a video processing component 115and an operating system 720. The operating system 720 generally controlsthe execution of application programs on the system 710. Examples ofoperating system 720 include UNIX, a version of the Microsoft Windows®operating system, and distributions of the Linux® operating system.

As shown, storage 714 contains video content 716. Generally, asdiscussed above, the video processing component 115 could analyze thevideo content 716 to identify a known content entity within two or moreframes of the video data. For example, the video processing component115 could determine that a particular sequence of frames within thevideo content 716 contain a depiction of a particular actor. The videoprocessing component 115 could further determine, for each of the framesin the sequence of frames, a region of pixels within the respectiveframe that correspond to the known content entity. For example, thevideo processing component 115 could identify a region of pixels in eachof the frames that depict the particular actor identified within theframes. The video processing component 115 could then embed a watermarkat a first position within the video content 716, such that thewatermark corresponds to an identifier associated with the known contententity. For example, the video processing component 115 could embed thewatermark at a position corresponding to the identified sequence offrames (e.g., a position of the first frame in the sequence) and couldsave a timestamp corresponding to the position together with anindicator of the known content entity, such that the timestamp cansubsequently be used to look-up the known content entity.

The content selection system 730 includes processor 732, storage 734,memory 738 and network adapter 742. Generally, the processor 732retrieves and executes programming instructions stored in the memory738. Processor 732 is included to be representative of a single CPU,multiple CPUs, a single CPU having multiple processing cores, GPUshaving multiple execution paths, and the like. The memory 738 isgenerally included to be representative of a random access memory.Further, while the depicted embodiment illustrates the components of aparticular content selection system 730, one of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that interactive objects may use a variety ofdifferent hardware architectures. Moreover, it is explicitlycontemplated that embodiments may be implemented using any device orcomputer system capable of performing the functions described herein.

The memory 738 represents any memory sufficiently large to hold thenecessary programs and data structures. Memory 738 could be one or acombination of memory devices, including Random Access Memory,nonvolatile or backup memory (e.g., programmable or Flash memories,read-only memories, etc.). In addition, memory 738 and storage 734 maybe considered to include memory physically located elsewhere; forexample, on another computer communicatively coupled to the system 730.Illustratively, the memory 738 includes a content selection component125 and an operating system 740. The operating system 740 generallycontrols the execution of application programs on the system 730.Examples of operating system 740 include UNIX, a version of theMicrosoft Windows® operating system, and distributions of the Linux®operating system.

As shown, storage 734 contains a supplemental content repository 120. Inone embodiment, the supplemental content repository 120 represents adatabase managed by a database management system (DBMS) on the contentselection system 730. Generally, the content selection component 125 isconfigured to access the supplemental content repository 120 to retrievesupplemental content for a particular known content entity. For example,the content selection component 125 could receive a request specifying aparticular content entity and could generate a query adapted to retrievecontent associated with the specified content entity from thesupplemental content repository 120. In an embodiment where thesupplemental content repository 120 comprises a database containingsupplemental content, the content selection component 125 could thensubmit the query to the DBMS to be executed against the supplementalcontent repository 120.

The client device 750 includes processor 752, memory 754, I/O devices758 and network adapter 760. Generally, the processor 752 retrieves andexecutes programming instructions stored in the memory 754. Processor752 is included to be representative of a single CPU, multiple CPUs, asingle CPU having multiple processing cores, GPUs having multipleexecution paths, and the like. The memory 754 is generally included tobe representative of a random access memory. Further, while the depictedembodiment illustrates the components of a particular client device 750,one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that interactive objectsmay use a variety of different hardware architectures. In oneembodiment, the client device 750 is implemented using a television setdevice (e.g., a “smart” television set device). Moreover, it isexplicitly contemplated that embodiments may be implemented using anydevice or computer system capable of performing the functions describedherein.

The memory 754 represents any memory sufficiently large to hold thenecessary programs and data structures. Memory 754 could be one or acombination of memory devices, including Random Access Memory,nonvolatile or backup memory (e.g., programmable or Flash memories,read-only memories, etc.). In addition, memory 754 may be considered toinclude memory physically located elsewhere; for example, on anothercomputer communicatively coupled to the client device 750.Illustratively, the memory 754 includes a video player component 145 andan operating system 756. The operating system 756 generally controls theexecution of application programs on the client device 750. Examples ofoperating system 756 include UNIX, a version of the Microsoft Windows®operating system, and distributions of the Linux® operating system.Additional examples of operating system 756 include custom operatingsystems for gaming consoles, including the custom operating systems forsystems such as the Nintendo DS® and Sony PSP®.

Generally, the video player component 145 is configured to playbackvideo content on the client device 750, e.g., for output using a displaydevice of I/O devices 758. Additionally, the video player component 145could detect a watermark embedded within the video content being playedback and could determine a timestamp associated with the watermark(e.g., the timestamp corresponding to the position at which thewatermark is embedded within an audio stream of the video content). Thevideo player component 145 could then transmit the timestamp to acontent server, such as the content processing system 710. Uponreceiving the timestamp information, the video processing component 115could look-up a known content entity corresponding to the timestampinformation and could query the content selection component 125specifying an identifier for the known content entity to retrievesupplemental content for the content entity. The video processingcomponent 115 could then return the supplemental content to the videoplayer component 145 and the video player component 145 could output atleast an indication of the supplemental content. For example, the videoplayer component 145 could display an indication of the supplementalcontent adjacent to the playback of the video data.

Although the video player component 145 is depicted in FIG. 7 asresiding within a single client device 750, this is for illustrativepurposes only and without limitation. In one embodiment, the logic ofthe video player component 145 is distributed across two or moreseparate devices. For example, a television set could be configured toreceive broadcast audiovisual data containing an embedded audiowatermark and could output the audiovisual data for display. Continuingthe example, a separate device (e.g., a personal computer device, atablet device, a mobile device, etc.) configured with the video playercomponent 145 could detect the embedded audio watermark during playbackof the audiovisual data (e.g., using one or more sensors, such as amicrophone device), and in response, could transmit a watermarkidentifier (e.g., a timestamp, a video content identifier, a clientdevice identifier, a combination thereof, and so on) to a contentserver, such as the content processing system 710. As discussed above,the video processing component 115 on the content processing systemcould then return supplemental content to the client device 750 (e.g.,requested content retrieved from the supplemental content repository 120via the content selection component 125), at which point thesupplemental content could be displayed on the client device 750 usingI/O devices 758. Advantageously, doing so allows the video playercomponent 145 to retrieve supplemental content corresponding to knowncontent entities within a broadcast television stream, regardless of thetelevision set on which the broadcast television stream is played. Thatis, by detecting the embedded audio watermark using a sensor device(e.g., a microphone), the video player component 145 on the clientdevice 750 can be configured to work with any television set withoutrequiring the television set to be preconfigured with any additionallogic.

In the preceding, reference is made to embodiments of the invention.However, it should be understood that the invention is not limited tospecific described embodiments. Instead, any combination of thefollowing features and elements, whether related to differentembodiments or not, is contemplated to implement and practice theinvention. Furthermore, although embodiments of the invention mayachieve advantages over other possible solutions and/or over the priorart, whether or not a particular advantage is achieved by a givenembodiment is not limiting of the invention. Thus, the precedingaspects, features, embodiments and advantages are merely illustrativeand are not considered elements or limitations of the appended claimsexcept where explicitly recited in a claim(s). Likewise, reference to“the invention” shall not be construed as a generalization of anyinventive subject matter disclosed herein and shall not be considered tobe an element or limitation of the appended claims except whereexplicitly recited in a claim(s).

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention are described above with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

Embodiments of the invention may be provided to end users through acloud computing infrastructure. Cloud computing generally refers to theprovision of scalable computing resources as a service over a network.More formally, cloud computing may be defined as a computing capabilitythat provides an abstraction between the computing resource and itsunderlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks),enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool ofconfigurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned andreleased with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.Thus, cloud computing allows a user to access virtual computingresources (e.g., storage, data, applications, and even completevirtualized computing systems) in “the cloud,” without regard for theunderlying physical systems (or locations of those systems) used toprovide the computing resources.

Typically, cloud computing resources are provided to a user on apay-per-use basis, where users are charged only for the computingresources actually used (e.g. an amount of storage space consumed by auser or a number of virtualized systems instantiated by the user). Auser can access any of the resources that reside in the cloud at anytime, and from anywhere across the Internet. In context of the presentinvention, the video processing component 115 could execute on acomputing system in the cloud and could process video content toidentify content entities within frames of the video content. Likewise,the content selection component 125 could be deployed on a cloudcomputing system and could determine supplemental content correspondingto the detected content entity within the video content. The videoprocessing component 115 could then embed a watermark within an audiostream of the video content and the content selection component 125,upon receiving an identifier corresponding to the embedded watermarkfrom a client device, could return at least a portion of thesupplemental content to the client device for display. Doing so allowsclient devices to access this information from any computing systemattached to a network connected to the cloud (e.g., the Internet).

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder or out of order, depending upon the functionality involved. Itwill also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagramsand/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purposehardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, orcombinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention,other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised withoutdeparting from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof isdetermined by the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:receiving, at a client device, video data for a first instance of videocontent and containing an indication that supplemental content isavailable for a character in a scene depicted within frames of the videocontent at a first position within the video data, the indicationcomprising a watermark embedded at the first position within the videodata, wherein the character in the scene was automatically detected viaat least one of a temporal consistency enhancement operation and anobject/character segmentation refinement operation; responsive to theclient device detecting the embedded watermark at the first positionwithin the video data, dynamically determining, during playback of thevideo data and without requiring user action, a timestamp thatidentifies the first position within the video data where the embeddedwatermark was detected; transmitting, to a remote content server, amessage specifying (i) a content identifier uniquely identifying thefirst instance of video content, (ii) the timestamp that identifies thefirst position within the video data at which the embedded watermark wasdetected and (iii) a client identifier that uniquely identifies theclient device; in response to transmitting the message, receiving, fromthe remote content server, supplemental content corresponding to thecharacter, wherein the remote content server is configured to: determinethe character by accessing a mapping data structure that contains amapping between a data value pair and the character, wherein the datavalue pair specifies (i) the content identifier that uniquely identifiesthe first instance of video content and (ii) the timestamp correspondingto the first position within the first instance of video content;determine the supplemental content to transmit to the client device, byselecting a portion of supplemental content having a predefinedassociation with the character, wherein the selection is made based on adevice profile corresponding to the client identifier for the clientdevice; and transmit the supplemental content to the client device; andoutputting the video data for display together with at least anindication of the supplemental content.
 2. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the embedded watermark comprises an audiowatermark within an audio stream of the video data, and wherein theaudio watermark is embedded at a position within the audio streamcorresponding to the timestamp.
 3. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein playback of the video data is output in a playbackregion of a user interface, and wherein outputting the video data fordisplay together with at least an indication of the supplemental contentfurther comprises: outputting the at least an indication of thesupplemental content within the user interface in a region adjacent tothe playback region.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein playback of the video data is output in a playback region of auser interface, and wherein outputting the video data for displaytogether with at least an indication of the supplemental content furthercomprises: outputting the at least an indication of the supplementalcontent within the user interface as an overlay on top of the playbackregion.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereinoutputting the video data for display together with at least anindication of the supplemental content further comprises: outputting theat least an indication of the supplemental content as one or more links,such that an instance of supplemental content is loaded within a userinterface responsive to a corresponding one of the one or more linksbeing selected.
 6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containingprogram code that, when executed by operation of one or more computerprocessors, performs an operation comprising: receiving, at a clientdevice, video data for a first instance of video content and containingan indication that supplemental content is available for a character ina scene depicted within frames of the video content at a first positionwithin the video data, the indication comprising a watermark embedded atthe first position within the video data, wherein the character in thescene was automatically detected via at least one of a temporalconsistency enhancement operation and an object/character segmentationrefinement operation; responsive to the client device detecting theembedded watermark at the first position within the video data,dynamically determining, during playback of the video data and withoutrequiring user action, a timestamp that identifies the first positionwithin the video data where the embedded watermark was detected;transmitting, to a remote content server, a message specifying (i) acontent identifier uniquely identifying the first instance of videocontent, (ii) the timestamp that identifies the first position withinthe video data at which the embedded watermark was detected and (iii) aclient identifier that uniquely identifies the client device; inresponse to transmitting the message, receiving, from the remote contentserver, supplemental content corresponding to the character, wherein theremote content server is configured to: determine the character byaccessing a mapping data structure that contains a mapping between adata value pair and the character, wherein the data value pair specifies(i) the content identifier that uniquely identifies the first instanceof video content and (ii) the timestamp corresponding to the firstposition within the first instance of video content; determine thesupplemental content to transmit to the client device, by selecting aportion of supplemental content having a predefined association with thecharacter, wherein the selection is made based on a device profilecorresponding to the client identifier for the client device; andtransmit the supplemental content to the client device; and outputtingthe video data for display together with at least an indication of thesupplemental content.
 7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 6, wherein the embedded watermark comprises an audio watermarkwithin an audio stream of the video data, and wherein the audiowatermark is embedded at a position within the audio streamcorresponding to the timestamp.
 8. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 6, wherein playback of the video data is output in aplayback region of a user interface, and wherein outputting the videodata for display together with at least an indication of thesupplemental content further comprises: outputting the at least anindication of the supplemental content within the user interface in aregion adjacent to the playback region.
 9. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein playback of the video datais output in a playback region of a user interface, and whereinoutputting the video data for display together with at least anindication of the supplemental content further comprises: outputting theat least an indication of the supplemental content within the userinterface as an overlay on top of the playback region.
 10. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein outputtingthe video data for display together with at least an indication of thesupplemental content further comprises: outputting the at least anindication of the supplemental content as one or more links, such thatan instance of supplemental content is loaded within a user interfaceresponsive to a corresponding one of the one or more links beingselected.
 11. A system, comprising: a computer processor; and a memorycontaining a program that, when executed by the computer processor,performs an operation comprising: receiving, at a client device, videodata for a first instance of video content and containing an indicationthat supplemental content is available for a character in a scenedepicted within frames of the video content at a first position withinthe video data, the indication comprising a watermark embedded at thefirst position within the video data, wherein the character in the scenewas automatically detected via at least one of a temporal consistencyenhancement operation and an object/character segmentation refinementoperation; responsive to the client device detecting the embeddedwatermark at the first position within the video data, dynamicallydetermining, during playback of the video data and without requiringuser action, a timestamp that identifies the first position within thevideo data where the embedded watermark was detected; transmitting, to aremote content server, a message specifying (i) a content identifieruniquely identifying the first instance of video content, (ii) thetimestamp that identifies the first position within the video data atwhich the embedded watermark was detected and (iii) a client identifierthat uniquely identifies the client device; in response to transmittingthe message, receiving, from the remote content server, supplementalcontent corresponding to the character, wherein the remote contentserver is configured to: determine the character by accessing a mappingdata structure that contains a mapping between a data value pair and thecharacter, wherein the data value pair specifies (i) the contentidentifier that uniquely identifies the first instance of video contentand (ii) the timestamp corresponding to the first position within thefirst instance of video content; determine the supplemental content totransmit to the client device, by selecting a portion of supplementalcontent having a predefined association with the character, wherein theselection is made based on a device profile corresponding to the clientidentifier for the client device; and transmit the supplemental contentto the client device; and outputting the video data for display togetherwith at least an indication of the supplemental content.
 12. The systemof claim 11, wherein the embedded watermark comprises an audio watermarkwithin an audio stream of the video data, and wherein the audiowatermark is embedded at a position within the audio streamcorresponding to the timestamp.
 13. The system of claim 11, whereinplayback of the video data is output in a playback region of a userinterface, and wherein outputting the video data for display togetherwith at least an indication of the supplemental content furthercomprises: outputting the at least an indication of the supplementalcontent within the user interface in a region adjacent to the playbackregion.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein playback of the video datais output in a playback region of a user interface, and whereinoutputting the video data for display together with at least anindication of the supplemental content further comprises: outputting theat least an indication of the supplemental content within the userinterface as an overlay on top of the playback region.
 15. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the character in thescene was automatically detected by the remote content server, whereinthe indication was automatically generated by the remote content server;wherein the remote content server comprises a plurality of componentsincluding a video processing component, a content repository component,and a content selection component; wherein the character in the scenewas detected and the indication generated based on a predefinedprocessing workflow that includes in input stage, an identificationstage, a refinement stage, an linkage stage, a watermarking stage, andan output stage.
 16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15,wherein the input stage includes a selection of the video content forprocessing by the video processing component; wherein the identificationstage includes an analysis of the first instance of the video content inorder to automatically identify the character in the scene, based on adetermination that a region of pixels in the frames of the scenesubstantially match a predefined region of pixels in a predefined sceneother than the scene, the predefined region of pixels pertaining to thecharacter.
 17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein therefinement stage includes the temporal consistency enhancement operationand the object/character segmentation refinement operation; wherein thetemporal consistency enhancement operation is performed in order toincrease temporal consistency across the frames of the scene; whereinthe object/character segmentation refinement operation is performed inorder to normalize the region of pixels in order to increase charactersegmentation across the frames of the scene; wherein the linkage stageincludes identification of the supplemental content as being associatedwith the character and further includes creation of a link between thesupplemental content and the frames; wherein the watermarking stageincludes an embedment of the watermark into the video data at the firstposition, wherein the output stage includes an output of the videocontent containing the embedded watermark and further includes an outputof a summary of (i) all characters within the video content, (ii) allscenes within the video content, and (iii) for each character, allscenes within the video content in which the respective characterappears.
 18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein theembedded watermark comprises an audio watermark within an audio streamof the video data, wherein the audio watermark is embedded at a positionwithin the audio stream corresponding to the timestamp; wherein playbackof the video data is output in a playback region of a user interface,wherein outputting the video data for display together with at least anindication of the supplemental content further comprises, in respectiveinstances: (i) outputting the at least an indication of the supplementalcontent within the user interface in a region adjacent to the playbackregion; (ii) outputting the at least an indication of the supplementalcontent within the user interface as an overlay on top of the playbackregion; and (iii) outputting the at least an indication of thesupplemental content as one or more links, such that an instance ofsupplemental content is loaded within the user interface responsive to acorresponding one of the one or more links being selected.
 19. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the video data isreceived from the remote content server, which generates the videocontaining the embedded watermark at the first position within the videodata by automatically: analyzing the video data in order to identify thecharacter within two or more frames of the video data; performing thetemporal consistency enhancement operation to increase temporalconsistency across the frames of the scene in order to optimize theidentification of the character within the two or more frames;determining, for each of the two or more frames, the region of pixelswithin the respective frame that correspond to the character; performingthe object/character segmentation refinement operation to normalize theregion of pixels in order to increase character segmentation across theframes of the scene and optimize the region of pixels corresponding tothe character with respect to both space and time; determining thesupplemental content corresponding to the character; and embedding thewatermark at the first position within the video data, such that thewatermark corresponds to an identifier associated with the determinedsupplemental content.
 20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19,wherein the message specifying the timestamp corresponding to the firstposition within the video data further specifies a client deviceidentifier, wherein the remote content server is configured to selectthe supplemental content based at least in part on the client deviceidentifier; wherein the supplemental content comprises (i) image data,(ii) audio data, (iii) video data, (iv) bibliographical data, and (v)textual data; wherein the character comprises, in respective instances,an actor and a cartoon character; wherein the supplemental content totransmit to the client device is determined by selecting a portion ofsupplemental content having a predefined association with the character,wherein the selection is made by, in respective instances: (i)determining one or more types of content that have been indicated aspreferred content types when historically played on the client device,wherein a preference is given to the preferred content types in makingthe selection; and (ii) determining, based on the client identifier, aplurality of instances of supplemental content that the client device isauthorized to access, wherein the selection is made from only theplurality of instances of supplemental content, and wherein at least oneinstance of supplemental content that the client device is notauthorized to access is not considered as part of the selection.